Today's coffee savvy consumers can be quite particular about the way they prefer their coffee. Whether it is a skinny latte or a double shot espresso, consumers know what they want and expect it to be available to them when they want it.
While driving to the corner coffee shop is certainly one way for consumers to get their coffee as they wish, we live in a fast-paced, convenience-oriented society that often doesn't allow for the time needed to drive to the coffee shop, only to have to wait in line to purchase the desired beverage. Moreover, coffee house beverages are often too pricey for the average consumer to indulge in on a regular basis. Thus, in an effort to save both time and money, many consumers opt to prepare their coffee beverages at home.
Until recently, the only option available to consumers who wanted to brew their coffee at home was a conventional multi-cup brewing device. However, the recent development of single-cup brewing devices has opened up a new door for consumers wanting to brew only one cup of coffee at a time.
Single-cup brewing devices are designed to quickly brew a fresh cup of roast and ground coffee. Such systems allow the consumer to rapidly make an individual cup of coffee, rather than brewing an entire pot and wasting a portion of it if only a single cup is desired. Because of such features, many consumers prefer the ease and convenience of using one of the various single-cup brewing devices currently on the market. However, while single-cup brewing devices may offer the convenience consumers are looking for, such brewing devices can present unique challenges to consumer controlled brewing, and in particular, to the consumer's ability to control the strength of the coffee (e.g. strength control).
Strength control can be an important consideration for coffee drinkers. One reason many consumers drink coffee is because of the caffeine content, which can help them start their day awake and alert. However, individual consumers react to caffeine consumption in different ways. While one consumer may need a significant amount of caffeine (i.e. strong coffee beverage) to feel alert, another consumer may only need to consume a small amount of caffeine (i.e. mild coffee beverage) to experience the same effect, and indeed, may feel jittery and shaky if too much caffeine is consumed. In this respect, it is desirable to provide a way for consumers to control the strength of their coffee beverages.
Another reason many consumers drink coffee is because they enjoy the taste. However, some coffee drinkers have underlying health concerns, such as acid reflux or indigestion, which can restrict the strength of the coffee they can comfortably consume. Again, it is therefore desirable to give consumers the ability to control the strength of their coffee.
The aforementioned strength control challenges often associated with single-cup brewing devices largely relate to the fact that: single-cup brewing devices typically brew only prepackaged pods or cartridges containing a predetermined amount of coffee product. This packaging arrangement can prevent consumers from readily adjusting the strength of their coffee.
For instance, unlike standard multi-cup brewing devices, single-cup brewing devices use a predetermined amount of water to brew the beverages. Thus, if a consumer selects that he desires an 8 oz. cup of coffee, the single-cup brewing device is programmed to use roughly 8 oz. of water to extract and prepare the beverage. Thus, the consumer is not able to select a “mild” or “strong” 8 oz. cup of coffee. The consumer must accept the predetermined beverage strength programmed into the brewing devices, which is usually a moderate strength, and which may not be acceptable to all consumers.
Furthermore, as previously mentioned, most single-cup brewing devices currently on the market work in conjunction with pods or cartridges that contain a predetermined amount of extractable beverage material. Once again, there is little the consumer can do to alter the strength of the brewed beverage and must brew the predetermined amount of coffee present in the pod.
While these two factors are designed to make brewing a single cup of coffee easier and more convenient for the consumer, they can inadvertently make it more difficult for the consumer to brew a beverage having the strength he desires. Thus, to date, consumers who want the convenience of using a single-cup brewing device may have to sacrifice the ability to control the strength of their beverage.
Therefore, it is desirable to devise a process for producing a beverage that provides consumers with the ease and convenience of single-cup brewing without compromising the desired strength.